7/13/2026
A few days ago a college classmate shared this with me, "University of Chicago Law to ban phones, laptops in classroom for first-year students in new AI plan."
I read the statement issued by the university. It is much more thoughtful than the news headlines suggest. The document focuses deeper questions than laptop or phone ban.
The university's AI strategy rests on three principles.
First, instead of banning AI or pretending it doesn't exist, "our pedagogy and assessment should be designed to ensure our students learn how to think critically and solve legal problems with sound professional judgment."
AI can provide quick answers, but relying on those shortcuts too early may hinder intellectual development. As a result, classrooms, assignments, and assessments should be designed to promote genuine learning rather than dependence on AI.
Second, "AI may transform the legal profession, but many aspects of legal practice are likely to remain the domain of humans, not merely because humans are good at them, but because clients, employers, judges, and society will want humans to perform them."
Skills such as oral advocacy, strategic judgment, critical thinking, and building relationships with clients are likely to remain fundamentally human responsibilities. Legal education should therefore place renewed emphasis on developing these uniquely human capabilities. So they ask, "What are the essentially human skills that AI can't replace?"
Third, because AI will inevitably become part of legal practice, students must also learn how to use it effectively. However, the goal is not merely to master today's AI tools, which may soon become obsolete, but to develop the analytical thinking, adaptability, and ethical judgment needed to work with whatever technologies emerge in the future.
If one of America's top law schools believes that students must first learn to think before relying on AI, what does that imply for education more broadly?
In the age of AI, thinking becomes more valuable than knowing. Facts are now available almost instantly, but judgment, reasoning, creativity, and wisdom cannot simply be downloaded from a machine.
The human brain develops and maintains through active engagement. We learn by working with difficult problems, making mistakes, and thinking them through. If we rely on AI too early or too often, we risk outsourcing the very mental work that education is meant to develop. That concern applies not only to students but also to children, whose minds are still developing, and to older adults, who benefit from continued cognitive engagement to keep their brains sharp.
Finally, human behavior is shaped by the environments we create. Rather than simply telling students, "Don't overuse AI," the University of Chicago Law School is redesigning the learning environment so that students first develop the habit of independent thinking.
